UC Berkeley Press Release

Psychologists reflect on their life's work with children, families and changes

By Noel Gallagher, Media Relations | 02 May 2005

BERKELEY – Well-known UC Berkeley husband and wife psychologists reflect on their life's work with children, families and changes

Philip Cowan and Carolyn Pape Cowan have created an unrivaled academic legacy over the course of their careers at the University of California, Berkeley. The married couple has carved out new territory in family systems research through their groundbreaking work on the changes couples go through when they have children.

They are the authors of "When Partners Become Parents: The Big Life Change for Couples," which was published in 1992 and reprinted in 2000.

The Cowans, who are both retiring in June, will present a detailed discussion of their work on Wednesday, May 4, in a lecture at 2040 Valley Life Sciences Building at UC Berkeley that is also a celebration of the psychologists' careers.

Philip Cowan has been a professor in the psychology department since 1963. His wife worked as a research psychologist in that department and at the Institute of Human Development from 1980 until 1999, when she was appointed an adjunct faculty member.

The Cowans discuss their work at UC Berkeley in a story published online at the UC Berkeley NewsCenter at: http://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/2005/04/27_cowan.shtml.It was written by Wendy Edelstein of the Berkeleyan staff.

After 30 years, Carolyn Cowan says, their message about the importance of parents' marital quality to their parent-child relationships and children's adjustment finally is getting through to researchers and clinicians in other American cities and even in foreign countries, including Germany, England, Israel, and Canada. The Cowans now get invitations to speak about their work to other family researchers and clinicians and to state and federal government agencies interested in adapting their methods.